I was too but I don't recall it being like this at all, at least not to think it was a norm, felt more like they were just these lepers that had to find some kind of sanctuary for their disposition. I had maybe like one bad encounter and it was dealt with. The last recent casual one before people became more bold, I think in the early 2000s I was in video chat at my friends house and one person came in and used a slur was basically burned at the stake by everyone in the chat and booted before I could even say anything.
Exhibit E: Mario's Family Resemblance?
Video game heroes are traditionally people we would like to emulate. Sonic the Hedgehog is fast and quick-witted. The Contra commandos are total badasses, even if they die in one hit. And Link wields a cool sword and has a harem of hot fairy bitches waiting off of him. What kid worth his legos wouldn't want to be any of these fine role models? Why then, as their flagship hero, does Nintendo choose an overweight, big-nosed plumber with an ungainly moustache and ridiculous suspenders? Why was this, the most unlikely heroic figure, chosen? Unusual yes… but deliberate? Looking at the evidence in light of this new Communist hidden agenda, the answer for this mystery is obvious. Mario, and his short-lived brother, are none other than cartoon representations of Joseph Stalin. Stalin was Russia's amicus humani, amor patriae or communist super man. So could this "super" Mario represent another "super" man? Well, that is for you to decide.
Based on the evidence, a sinister new picture emerges about our cherished childhood hero. What follows is a dramatization, based on what we believe is really going on in Super Mario Bros.
This might not translate so well today - or internationally, but back in the 80s and 90s British games magazines had this kind of insult humour - if you sent in a letter or art, you did so in the knowledge that it would be met that way.
It's not even just games. I'll go back and watch some old tv shows and be shocked that it was able to air.
Mixing personal sore spots with political commentary while I'm currently running on three brain cells may not have been the brightest.
Even so, there's no way you get the phrase "rightwinger" as a comment on a Nazi drawing without some real sus stuff going on.
Sega Power wasn't an official magazine so it certainly wasn't anything Sega themselves would have anything to do with. The official mag was just called "Sega Magazine".
